


A Reason For Faith

by TheAsexualScorpio



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Lesbian Sex, Minor Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, Past Abuse, Past Character Death, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Relationship(s), Ramsay is his own warning, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:52:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualScorpio/pseuds/TheAsexualScorpio
Summary: "You've seen what kind of person she is. You know what her son is capable of. Would either of them spare our friend's wife?”Sansa's bare back flashed through Shae's mind, an ugly tapestry of black, blue, green, and yellow that was shot through with red and pink welts. “No,” she said through gritted teeth.“Then if you cannot leave for his sake, leave for hers. She is only a girl.”~~~Shae takes Varys' offer to leave King's Landing. Years later, she sees a play and decides it is time to return to Westeros.





	A Reason For Faith

**Author's Note:**

> This is primarily a show 'verse fic, with a canon divergence from episode 3x10. In this AU, Shae takes Varys' diamonds and leaves King's Landing.

Off the main garden of the Red Keep, Shae stood in a niche that overlooked Blackwater Bay. The thin shafts of sunlight that managed to pierce through the trees and tall hedges beat down on Shae, as hot as high summer, but the breeze coming in off the bay carried a sharpness that signaled the coming winter. She wondered what winter would be like in King's Landing. A small voice in her head wondered if she would even be here when winter came. She quickly suppressed it. _I am yours, and you are mine_ , Tyrion had said to her, that night before the Battle of the Blackwater.

 _Tyrion wasn't married then,_ that small voice reminded her.

Shae watched the ships as they went in and out of the bay. Most of them were merchant ships from the Free Cities, judging by their sails, but she could not tell which ship came from where. Mostly. She smirked slightly at the sight of a Volantene vessel. The last time she had seen one of those, she had been watching ships with Sansa. Sansa liked making up stories about where they were going and what they planned to do there. All Shae had seen was a ship from Volantis.

“When did you come to this strange country?”

The words were soft enough not to startle her, and Shae looked over her shoulder. Lord Varys stood in the opening that led back to the main garden, looking unusually solemn in thick brown robes. His hands were tucked in front of him inside his long, wide sleeves. He watched her expectantly, and Shae wasn't sure what he wanted from her. Why would he care when she came here? What use would the knowledge be to him? She didn't know, and she didn't like it. 

“When I was thirteen,” she carefully replied.

“You were only a child.”

Shae scoffed and turned back to the bay. She took a couple of steps toward it and folded her arms in front of her. “I stopped being a child when I was nine. My mother made sure of that,” she said darkly.

Varys changed tact without missing a beat. “You've been a good influence on our mutual friend, you know.”

Shae's lips curled into a thin, bitter smile. Now, she thought she might know what he wanted.

“He used to drink from sundown to sunup, visit three brothels a night, gamble away his father's money-” Varys tittered. “-now, it's just the drinking.”

“And now, I'm his wife's servant,” she added. “I brush her hair and clip her nails and empty her chamber pot.” The last was said through gritted teeth.

“She is a sweet, young thing. None of this is her fault—” Varys said, reproachful.

Shae rounded on him, interrupting. “I _love_ that girl. I would kill for her. Do you think that makes it easier for me?”

“No. I expect not.”

She deflated and turned back to the bay. When she spoke again, the words came out in a rough croak. “She is young, and she is beautiful and... highborn.” And Tyrion had not touched Shae since Sansa became his wife. It was like all he saw now when he looked at Shae was another servant, nothing more. Every time he refused her, another piece of her heart broke away. And the poisonous envy that burned in her belly when she looked at Sansa only got worse. Varys was right, it wasn't her fault, but it didn't make Shae feel any better.

Varys released a resigned sounding sigh. “We break bread with them, but that doesn't make us family. We've learned their language, but we'll never be their countrymen.” His voice grew louder as he walked toward her. “If you let yourself believe that a foreign girl with no name could spend her life with the son of Tywin Lannister—”

She rounded on him again. “I have a name!”

“You have _one_ name.” Varys said firmly. Then, he shrugged. “As do I. Here, only the family name matters.”

Shae narrowed her eyes at him. She was tired of this conversation. “What do you want from me, Lord Varys?”

He looked over his shoulder. Shae didn't see anyone in the garden outside their niche, and it seemed Varys didn't either. Satisfied, he turned and took another step toward her, pulling his hands from his sleeves. In one hand, he had what looked like a small bundle of pale brown cloth. He tucked into her own hand, and a closer look revealed that it was a sack, heavily embroidered with blue thread and full of what felt like small stones. Bemused, Shae looked away from the sack to Varys' face.

“Diamonds,” he explained in a soft voice. “I'd tell you to beware, carrying so much wealth, but you know how to protect yourself.” He looked pointedly at the bay behind her. “Get on one of those ships. Sail to Pentos, or Lys, or Myr. You could buy a house with these diamonds, a very large house. Hire servants, start a new life, a _good_ life, far from here. The mysterious foreign beauty.” He backed away, waving his fingers like a mummer performing an illusion. “You'd have suitors lining up.”

The thin, bitter smile returned to Shae's face, growing a bit with each word that passed Varys' lips. “Why do you want me to leave?” she asked once he was finally finished with his mummery.

“Tyrion Lannister is one of the few people alive who can make this country a better place. He has the mind for it. He has the will. He has the right last name, and you—” Varys sighed and gave her a sympathetic look. “—you are a complication. I _know_ you love him, and I know it's true love, not bought by gold and silver. I'm not asking you to leave him for money. I'm asking you to leave because your presence in the capital endangers him. This will never be your home, my lady. Find a true home, somewhere far from here, while there's still time.” He turned, preparing to walk away.

“Lord Varys,” she called, the words as harsh as the crack of a whip.  
When he turned around, she tossed the bag of diamonds to the ground at his feet. “If he wants me to leave, he can tell me himself.”

She stalked toward the garden. How _dare_ Tyrion try to do this?! Send the eunuch to do his dirty work after everything they've been through.

She jolted when Varys grabbed her wrist, as quick as a striking snake. Outraged, she tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened. Now, it was hard enough to hurt. “Let go of—”

“What of his wife?” Varys asked fiercely.

“What of her?” Shae shot back.

“Your presence here endangers him, her fortunes are tied to his. What do you think happens if our mutual friend's sister found a way to use you against him? Harmed you to goad him into attacking her or her son? What would happen to the girl?”

“He doesn't—” Care, she meant to say. Tyrion didn't love her anymore. He wouldn't care if Cersei killed her, so long as he had his pretty little lady wife.

Varys interrupts her before she can say it. “He _does_. And his sister would use that. You've seen what kind of person she is. You _know_ what her son is capable of. Would either of them spare our friend's wife?”

Before she could say she didn't care, Sansa's bare back flashed through Shae's mind, an ugly tapestry of black, blue, green, and yellow that was shot through with red and pink welts. She saw Sansa's tear-stained face, a brittle mask of anger the only thing keeping her from crying. Shame licked at Shae's skin like liquid fire. “No,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Then if you cannot leave for his sake, leave for hers. She is only a girl.”

“We could fight th—” she started weakly.

“You are not so foolish,” Varys interrupted.

For a long moment, they stared at each other, and then Shae's shoulders slumped. Varys let her go, and she bent and picked up the bag of diamonds.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a gifset of all the times Shae helped Sansa in the show, and I got pissed off about the writers making her implicate Sansa in Tyrion's trial all over again.


End file.
